A long meeting with the heads of the country’s Security Research Centre (KEMEA) – an organization overseen by the Ministry of Citizen Protection – was convened by Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni on safety issues related to the Acropolis, its employees and visitors.

The meeting was attended by president of KEMEA Th. Dravilas, secretary general for Culture G. Didaskalou, general manager I. Karageorgopoulos, director N. Gerasimidis and officials of the Ministry of Culture and Sports (MOCAS).

During the meeting, protection issues were thoroughly examined and plans were discussed for safeguarding and risk management of the Acropolis, a global monument-symbol. As stressed by the minister, the Acropolis site “should only have positive associations for its visitors and this is to the country’s benefit. The visitor must be and feel absolutely secure and this is achieved by strategy and know-how. ” The security plans will train all Acropolis staff to co-operate with the technical infrastructure to be installed.

The Minister of Culture and Sports requested the Security Research Centre to have completed a detailed recording of the current situation and have collected data by the end of next week – in co-operation with the MOCAS services coordinated by the secretary general for Culture. It will take many inspections, a thorough reference to the weaknesses, so that KEMEA can propose measures to be taken to meet the demands of the time, said the statement by MOCAS.

All measures will support the security infrastructure which is vital to drastically reducing all hypothetical risks. Management plans will also be developed based on the experience of the Acropolis staff, while organizing special seminars for the guards is a priority. Pilot plans still need to be prepared to tackle the security of a large museum and an openair monument, including issues of natural disasters. “Studying indoor and outdoor hazards, site vulnerability, the proposed means as well as the training in security measures are included in the Ministry’s strategy covering the protection of visitors, employees and the actual monuments. The first phase of the plan should be ready by the end of April, if not earlier, with the start of the next tourist season”, the minister noted.